Unfortunately, the NFL has rules about whether the roof is open or closed. If it is below a certain temperature the NFL requires the roof to be closed. I wish they could keep it open for games in the 10’s when San Francisco was in town.

Apparently it will be constructed of cleverly cut blocks of ice arranged in a circle, with progressively smaller blocks of ice piled in layers on top of them, so on an so forth. The resulting half orb will finally be finished with a single block in the middle of the top. Unless they want to leave a hole for the smoke from the woodfires used to heat the stadium to escape.

This is rediculous, I find that the name “Vikings” is offensive to those who are still raping, plundering and conquering others today.

oldlineman says:May 13, 2013 4:58 AM

49ers fan:”Well, if they were smart they’d go back to when it was an open-air stadium”. Okay…
Being able to use the nearly 1 billion dollar facility year around in the northern midwest climate , as there are other events besides football, just might be considered “smart”. Although not as much as you, and those pesky packer trolls..

Every 6 months since 2000 there is a new cartoon that comes out depicting a design for an uneconomic boondoggle.

This is a low revenue franchise that cannot sell 40,000 season tickets and opted to spend more to lower the lack of sales blackout requirements. They desperately need to have a smaller stadium in Minnesota.

Now they have to convince taxpayers and voters that it is a good investment to go billions in debt to tear down a perfectly good arena (with a new roof and new carpeting), and build a boondoggle smaller arena at a billion in construction cost and at least a billion in finance costs for an NFL ownership group that spends less than a month each year in Minnesota.

Moving to Los Angeles is the best option for this franchise and for the NFL.

“Now they have to convince taxpayers and voters that it is a good investment to go billions in debt to tear down a perfectly good arena (with a new roof and new carpeting), and build a boondoggle smaller arena at a billion in construction cost and at least a billion in finance costs for an NFL ownership group that spends less than a month each year in Minnesota. ”

They didnt convince us of anything, I think it is sad that we have to pay for soo much for something that may or may not get used all that much during the year. The primary draw is the Vikings, the current dome works just fine for everything else and isnt running us up a billion.

The sad thing is they cant come up with the money to pay for it, they just showed that the gambling machines are pulling in a significant amount less than promised for stadium funding.

I like watching football, and I like the vikings; but that doesnt mean I am willing to take a portion of my already too high state income taxes and flush it down the drain (I wont be voting for anyone who said yes to this mess).

Hey but the guys on the board that helped push this through hope they enjoy the free season tickets (press release from a while ago).

Really Bob? You’re still holding on to the LA thing? I mean, every fanbase gets its trolls, but I propose that the Packer trolls on this site in particular take the cake for the worst – they don’t even try anymore.

As for the design, I am excited. It’s sure to be modern yet classic, stacked with amenities and will definitely have a Minnesota feel with great sight-lines to our great skyline. My biggest hope is that they affix the Gjallarhorn somewhere prominent so that it can be seen by all when it’s blown proudly. I’m also curious how they plan to tackle the parking issues around the site currently, as well as add some permanent tailgating places.

purpleguy says:May 13, 2013 10:31 AM

There won’t be a retractable roof — they’ve been hinting at that for the last year. Regardless of the design, the next stadium article will at least give Packer fans something to write about critically during Wheel of Fortune commercials.

At least they don’t have to bother the architect to include space for a trophy case.

I would opt for less seats and wider aisles so the fans can exit the stadium early when they are behind in the 4th qtr. 3-m wouldn’t have to buy the unsold seats on a Friday to avoid the local blackout, I’m sure they would appreciate that. The could build their hall of fame in the 3rd stall on the left, there’s plenty of room in there for all the Vikings in the HOF.

“Now they have to convince taxpayers and voters that it is a good investment to go billions in debt to tear down a perfectly good arena (with a new roof and new carpeting), and build a boondoggle smaller arena at a billion in construction cost and at least a billion in finance costs for an NFL ownership group that spends less than a month each year in Minnesota. ”

They didnt convince us of anything, I think it is sad that we have to pay for soo much for something that may or may not get used all that much during the year. The primary draw is the Vikings, the current dome works just fine for everything else and isnt running us up a billion.

The sad thing is they cant come up with the money to pay for it, they just showed that the gambling machines are pulling in a significant amount less than promised for stadium funding.

I like watching football, and I like the vikings; but that doesnt mean I am willing to take a portion of my already too high state income taxes and flush it down the drain (I wont be voting for anyone who said yes to this mess).

Hey but the guys on the board that helped push this through hope they enjoy the free season tickets (press release from a while ago).

duece5 says:

Wow…..spoken like the uninformed reps. that voted NO last year! You can’t see the forest through the trees.

This is an economic development plan as much as a stadium…..thousands of JOBS and MILLINS of dollars will be put in the state coffers from taxes due to these ADDED JOBS. Money to be used for roads and education and important services.

You can’t spend nothing to get something!!!

You have to give to receive, and the receiving just isn’t a few games…….it is JOBS and growth…..10k jobs is GREAT for the state.

how about the service industry? The restaurants, bars, and entertainment industries that benefit locally? Transportation industry…..hotel industry.

The multi-use stadium will host a Super Bowl generation $$$, Final 4s, motocross, and other national/regional events……

That is just the start……..do not be a simple mind…..KNOW THE FACTS and understand……it take $$$$ to raise $$$$$$, and this is an exceptional deal for Minnesota!

I love all these Packer fans in the Vikings section talking how the Vikings do not need a trophy case, the product is still junk regardless of the packaging, ect ect… Well that may be the case, and the Packers may be a more winning franchise historically speaking. But there is one thing that will make just about EVERYONE else in this country better than you Packer fans….You live in Wisconsin. Enjoy punching a clock for the rest of your working lives….

theytukrjobs says:May 13, 2013 2:06 PM

Absolutely no amount of sports failures could ever make Wisconsin superior to Minnesota. As long as their citizens continue to migrate into our state in vastly higher numbers than we migrate into theirs we will always look to Wisconsin as our little Mexico to the East. That is where we go for reduced manufacturing and labor costs to support our high tech industries without having to leave the country.

With that said, too much is made of this retractable roof business. An open air stadium would make a lot of sense, but the state refused to donate a single penny if the stadium didn’t have a roof. So you are left with retractable or fixed roof.

Retractable is ugly, but functionally they are nice. Problem is that they run an extra 200 million. So the real question is:
Do you want a budget 800 million dollar stadium that can open its roof?
Do you want a premium 1 billion dollar stadium with a fixed roof?

Personally I am all 100% for a fixed roof stadium because the added cost of a retractable doesn’t, in my opinion, justify it. I’d rather the 200 million was put into larger concourses, bathrooms, sound, aesthetics, outdoor plaza, etc.

People don’t realize how much more you can do with a stadium on a given budget if you just leave the roof fixed. NFL will only let us open the damn thing 2 or 3 times a year anyways.

I live in SE wisconsin and I’ve attended the University of Minnesota… generally I find people from Minnesota more intelligent and friendly but then again I was mostly around a campus setting so the standards were probably higher.

pack13queens0 says:May 13, 2013 3:58 PM

Funding has not been going as well as planned for the Stadium. Is it too late to just forget about it & move them to Los Angeles where they belong? The Vikings are the only team in the NFL that fails to sell out home games.

deltaoracle says:May 13, 2013 4:22 PM

Taking a page from the Cowboy stadium that had a hole in its roof, they plan to have a hole in their – wait for it… – trophy case!

stellarperformance says:May 13, 2013 4:27 PM

I look forward to a state-of-the-art stadium in Minneapolis. I was born in Duluth. I was raised in Minneapolis. I have spent most of my adult life living in Wisconsin. I hate to burst the bubble folks, but the two states and the people in them are VIRTUALLY IDENTICAL! Kissing cousins for crying out loud. Open your eyes and look around.

If you want to trade MEANINGFUL insults, please try relating them to football, this being a football site. Otherwise, stop the second-grade level BS. Minnesota is not Seattle or Denver, and Wisconsin is not Alabama or West Virginia. They’re the same….like it or not. Change the colors of the clothes during football season and ask a bunch of foreigners to determine who is from Wisconsin and who is from Minnesota. They’ll scratch their heads trying to figure out what you mean.

If your team is on top, you don’t need to make the personal insults. This is a football site. Insults are thrown out there by losers…because that’s the only way they can fight back. That’s all they have to feel good about themselves. I’m a Packer fan and I feel pretty good.

wdnemesis says:May 13, 2013 4:53 PM

Maybe the stadium could be a large Vikings ship. I think the theme would be awesome.

First, thanks for finding my typo for me. Secondly, moving from Wisconsin to New York does not make a person any more or less intelligent. The fact that you troll the Vikings section of a website stating how much better a football team that you watch on TV is than the team they watch, and some how twist it in your mind that their success is somehow based on your ability to be a fan, is what makes you less intelligent than most folks.

You take someone from Minneapolis, MN and someone from Park Falls, Wisconsin and compare them, they ARE NOT the same. Sure, Minnesota has its share of rural areas, but MN has many many more “white collar” type jobs than Wisconsin, and that was MY original point. Packer trolls sling dirt on Vikings threads all day long pointing out how much superior their football team is to ours. So I was simply returning the favor, showing that in what really matters in life, jobs, money, lifestyle, Minnesota presents many more opportunities than Wisconsin. So again, I will take a good income, job security, and better education opportunities for my children, eleven times out of ten over a good football team but having to spend 60 hours a week on a D8 Cat to make 60 grand a year.

And boy! Does it look like crap! Especially on the exterior. The interior didn’t look too bad but man! What an eyesore this thing looks like from the street! Hopefully the finished product looks A LOT better than those pictures! Leave it to the Vikings to screw up a brand new publicly funded stadium…

nickynick04 says:May 14, 2013 6:23 AM

ARE YOU KIDDING ME !
Viking fans constantly putty down the Packers and the State if Wisconsin…..

How any gay marriages can you now hold with the roof open ?

The Vikings can NEVER put down Wisconsin again…..Gay marriages….NICE !
Stay gay Viking fans stay Gay !!!
Not that there is anything wrong with that…